“Most of the things I’ve written about I’ve been involved with one way or another.

“I was rummaging and found that I had a pile of letters from my mother from 1939-42 which had been sent back to Scotland.

“I also had my own memories plus my father’s report on escaping Singapore the day before it fell, and all his adventures after that. My father made sure we got out in 1941, but he was left behind.

“My parents had actually climbed Mount Fuji on the day the war broke out, so being a professional mountaineer I can claim that as my origin! We were an unusual family I suppose! So I decided to put all these things together in this book. And as I say in it, these are old memories which are becoming history.”